Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Sep 01, 2025

Bitcoin's record-breaking surge means one man ended up paying £440m for two pizzas

Bitcoin's record-breaking surge means one man ended up paying £440m for two pizzas

Saturday's spike came exactly one year after the volatile cryptocurrency lost 50% of its value in the space of two days.

Bitcoin has surged to a new all-time high - with prices breaking £44,000 for the first time.

Saturday's spike came exactly one year after the volatile cryptocurrency lost 50% of its value in the space of two days and fell to £2,873. It has risen 1,431% in the past 12 months.

Bitcoin now finds itself in uncharted territory. While some analysts believe the digital asset could reach £70,000 this year, others fear that dramatic sell-offs could be on the horizon.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has warned people who buy Bitcoin should be prepared to lose all of their money


Part of the cryptocurrency's popularity lies in how its supply is fixed at 21 million, with new coins set to be gradually released between now and 2140.

Supporters claim this helps create scarcity - in contrast to traditional currencies such as the US dollar, where supplies have increased dramatically as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Tesla helped ignite interest in Bitcoin when the electric vehicle manufacturer announced it had invested $1.5bn (£1.1bn) in the cryptocurrency last month.

Estimates suggest that Elon Musk's company has already made more profit from this investment in a month than it did by selling cars across the whole of 2020.

But critics have accused Tesla of tarnishing its eco-friendly image, amid concerns over the impact that Bitcoin has on the environment.

Research from Digiconomist suggests that the cryptocurrency's annual carbon footprint is comparable to the whole of Slovakia, a country with a population of 5.5 million people. The electricity it takes to complete a single Bitcoin transaction would also be enough to power an average American household for 25 days.

Elon Musk has written many tweets endorsing Bitcoin - with Tesla recently investing $1.5bn


Bitcoin, which launched in 2009, reached a significant milestone last year when PayPal announced it would allow its users to buy, sell and store the cryptocurrency - and use it to make purchases at millions of merchants. The payment giant's crypto service launched in the US last October, and is due to make its debut in the UK later this year.

Last month, Mastercard also announced that it plans to start allowing its customers to make payments using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

But buying stuff using Bitcoin may not be a good idea - for several reasons. The cryptocurrency's network can only handle five transactions per second, while the likes of Visa can handle thousands.

Bitcoin's volatility can also have consequences. Laszlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 BTC in 2010, back when the cryptocurrency was worth pennies. Fast forward to now, and this crypto stash is worth a staggering £440m.

Annually, Bitcoin uses as much electricity as the whole of Chile


The asset's growing price in recent years has turned early adopters into millionaires, but not everyone has been so lucky.

James Howells, from Newport, threw away a hard drive containing 7,500 BTC in 2013, which would be worth £330.2m at today's rates. He has offered to pay the council millions of pounds for the chance to search a landfill site, but his requests have been repeatedly rejected on environmental grounds.

According to the Financial Conduct Authority, 1.9 million Britons owned cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin as of last June.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has warned that people who buy Bitcoin should be prepared to lose all of their money - and recently predicted that the cryptocurrency won't last.

Other senior officials, such as European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, have called for Bitcoin to be regulated globally - warning that it is used for "funny business".

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
×